Merchandising systems and, more particularly, coupon discounts are used to promote sales of particular products. Discount coupons have long been used to attract individuals to certain products in order to encourage sampling or trial or to increase volume. Such coupons are frequently distributed in newspapers, through the mail, or inside or attached to packages of products. These methods serve to distribute the coupon, but do a very poor job in directing the coupon to the proper user.
Users have distinct opinions, tastes, likes and dislikes that vary throughout the population. Therefore, a general method of distribution to the entire population provides a large number of coupons to disinterested users. It is not surprising that there is a very large amount of waste, particularly where it is common to find that well over 95% of all coupons are unused. This low redemption rate is very costly to the manufacturer or sponsor of the coupon.
To enhance redemption of their coupons, sponsors have spent heavily in market research to determine the characteristics of their ideal user, to try to find pools of these users, and to distribute their coupons to them. Such micro marketing greatly increases the redemption rate, but at the sacrifice of large numbers of potentially interested users who, for whatever reason, are not included in the target pool.
What is needed is a method of targeting coupons that achieves greater efficiency and wider participation by a broader audience in the offers of the sponsor while reducing the waste of non-redeemed coupons occurring in the prior art.
In the field of testing and test analysis and scoring, traditional methods of marking test papers by students and grading of test papers by teachers has remained unchanged for years. While computer aided analysis of test questions has greatly improved the amount of time instructors spend grading papers, there is no method of applying computer analysis to paper and pencil tests without first running the test, then collecting the papers, and then processing the papers.
Certain new methods of programmed learning, whereby information is imparted to students depending on the students response, have achieved only limited popularity. Some such methods are time consuming to construct, since each response must be elaborately worked into booklet form with involved branching to various sections of the booklet depending upon the answers given by the student. Thus, while programmed learning has the advantage of intense learning geared to the student's responsiveness and ability, the amount of time required to prepare the possible responses makes its use very expensive and time consuming.
With the advent of electronic documents and enhanced bandwidth, people may now express their desires and opinions via computer assisted mechanisms such as the world wide web. Currently such responses are made by using so called drop down menus which present a list of possible responses or by filling in blank areas on the screen as if typing upon the page. However, drop down menus presenting a list of possible responses are not context sensitive and the need to type introduces error. Thus, the information gathered lacks precision.